Page 38 of Insta [FAM]

“And Dion? Is she coming home?”

I glance over at her, brushing a strand of blonde hair from her face. “She’s here, but she’s sleeping. I can bring her home, though.”

“No!” Amelia whisper-shouts. “You can’t, Mika. Then the kids will think the worst, and I’m not about to break that kind of news to them.” Well, she can’t sleep at the clinic, so —

“Fine,” I sigh. “I’ll take her home with me, and bring her back here in the morning to fetch her car.”

“Okay, but what do I tell the kids?”

I rub my eyes, feeling a headache bloom at the base of my neck, and behind my eyes. “Is Zach with you?”

“He is, why?” Amelia sounds skeptical, which I suppose is fair. I’ve never had any interaction with Dion’s oldest child, but I’m willing to bet my left nut he’ll be calmer than Amelia if he must relay this to his younger sisters. Especially Holly-Anna.

“Put him on for me, yeah?”

There’s a noise in the background, and then a teenage boy’s voice comes over the line. “Hello?”

“Zach, it’s Mika. I’m the—”

“Vet,” he says. “I know. You’ve been boning my mom.” I almost choke on my tongue. “What’s going on?”

I take a breath, knowing that to get him to really listen, I must speak to him as if he’s a grown-up. I was his age once, too, and all I wanted back then was to be treated like an adult. Right now, I’m two things to this kid — the guy who’s sleeping with his mother and the guy who’s supposed to be saving their beloved fluff-demon, and family pet.

“You need to keep the girls calm, yeah? Lola has been hurt, your mother is exhausted, and I need you to be mature about how you handle this.”

He clears his throat, and I can almost see him straightening, maybe trying to puff his chest out. “Yeah, I hear you, Mika.”

“Good. Now, Lola had surgery to repair her leg, which was quite severely broken, but she’s recovering. I can’t lie and say she’ll be fine; I won’t know until tomorrow. I don’t want you to lie to your sisters, yeah? Tell them she’s been hurt, that she’s here, and that we’re keeping a close eye on her. I have someone coming to stay with her for the night.”

“I can do that. What about Mom?”

I sigh. “I’m taking her home with me, she’s too upset and too tired to drive. Do you think your Aunt Amelia can stay with you tonight?”

“Even if she can’t, I can look after my sisters.”

“Okay, good. And do me a favor, take this number down. I’ll let you and Amelia know as soon as I have any updates.”

“Thanks, Mika. And thanks for helping Lola, Mom complains about her a lot, but she’ll be devastated if anything happens to her. I think we all will.”

“No problem, Zach. I’m going to do everything I can, yeah? Until then, I need your help with your sisters.”

“Got it, I have it under control.”

We say our goodbyes, and when I glance at Dion’s screen again, the Instagram notifications are everywhere.

Against my better judgement, I open the app, wondering why the hell Dion’s phone isn’t password protected. She did a video in the waiting room, but only after it had emptied out and Abby had left. It’s a short one, but because it’s addressed to her InstaFam, and about Lola Bunny, the views and comments are plentiful. Dion’s followers have become rather invested in her Bunny Chronicles, and she updated them about what happened to Lola. Her video is tearful, and emotional, and a bit erratic, but there’s an outpouring of love there, too, and so much support. The amount of people asking for updates is astounding, considering it’s a bunny. Which compels me to do something I never thought I would — I open the app, find what I’m looking for, and walk into the recovery room. I click on the live option and start talking.

“Hey, InstaFam,” God, this is fucking weird, but okay, “I’m Mika, the vet. Several of you have asked Dion for an update on Lola Bunny, but she’s asleep now, so I decided to hop on here and do it myself. I hope that’s okay, I’ve never done this before so...” I shake my head. “Anyway, I’m going to fill you in real quick, and then give you a glimpse of Lola. The poor baby was injured,” the comments fly, and I try to keep track but give up, “and my colleague and I operated on her broken leg. Right now, it’s touch-and-go because bunnies are tricky to operate on, and can have difficult recoveries, but she’s got the best care possible.” I flip the camera and show Lola to whoever is watching — it’s like thousands of people, which blows my mind — and then flip it back. “I’m sure Dion will give you all an update tomorrow, when we have more news, but for now, keep Lola in your prayers, yeah?” Someone comments, Are you the hot Kiwi vet? I chuckle, and reply, “Māori, yeah, and that’s me. Okay, I need to get going, but thanks for your thoughts and prayers guys, I’m sure it means a lot to Dion and Lola. Uh, bye.” I click end just as Hannah arrives to take over. “Poor thing,” she whispers, looking at Lola.

“Yeah, it was a close call. Thanks for coming on such short notice, you can either call me or Elliot if you have any issues.”

Her cheeks redden. “I’ll call Elliot, you look beat.” Interesting. I suspect Hannah here likes Elliot, which is weird because he’s an ass, and she’s a sweetheart. But whatever. I’m tired, and I need to get Dion into bed.

“Thanks, Hannah. See you tomorrow.”

Dion is still asleep when I get back to my office, so I pick her up, hold her to my chest, and carry her out to my truck. She doesn’t even stir. I shoot a text off to Nyree, asking her to get my bed ready, and drive Dion to my place. It’s past eleven, my folks are asleep, and so is Aroha. Nyree has the front door open for me as soon as I park my truck, and doesn’t say much when I carry Dion upstairs, and get her situated on my bed.

“Is she okay?” Nyree asks quietly.

“Yeah, she just passed out at the clinic, and I didn’t want to wake her and have her drive home. I spoke to her son, Zach, and let him know what happened.”

“Will Lola be okay? Aroha was quite upset when you left.” Aroha is no stranger to my job, and I try my best not to lie to her about the shittier parts. But she overheard me talking to Dion and is a big reason why I decided to go to the clinic. “Lola was hurt, but Elliot and I managed to get that tiny leg pinned. Now, we wait and see.”

Nyree nods and walks out. “Get some sleep, Mikaere. And take care of your woman.”

“Ny.” She stops and looks at me. “I’m leaving before Mum and Dad wake up, I can’t have Aroha asking questions in the morning.”

“At some point, you’ll have to tell her you’re dating, Mika. She needs to get used to the idea at some point.”

I could argue that Dion and I are not dating, because we’re not, and I could also argue that Aroha doesn’t need to get used to anything just yet. But I’m too tired to consider it all. I shut my bedroom door, and rather than slip into bed with Dion, I take a long, hot shower. God, what a day. What a mess. And now Dion’s in my bed. Shit.